Q 01/05

What working title did Arthur Miller give his Salem play before settling on The Crucible?

A) The Witches of Salem

B) Those Familiar Spirits

C) The Devil in Massachusetts

D) A Pointy Reckoning

Answer · why

B) Those Familiar Spirits

Those Familiar Spirits was the title Miller first copyrighted the play under, and the phrase stayed in the script: in Act One Hale boasts that his vol...

Q 02/05

In his note on the play's historical accuracy, what does Miller admit changing about Abigail Williams?

A) Her age

B) Her name

C) Her family

D) Her fate

Answer · why

A) Her age

Her age: the real Abigail was about eleven in 1692 and is seventeen in the play, while Miller went the other way with John Proctor, turning a man of s...

Q 03/05

Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory of which American episode?

A) McCarthyism

B) Prohibition

C) The Scopes trial

D) Japanese internment

Answer · why

A) McCarthyism

McCarthyism takes its name from Senator Joseph McCarthy, yet as a senator he had no seat on the House Un-American Activities Committee, the separate b...

Q 04/05

In Act Four, why does Elizabeth say Giles Corey stood mute rather than answer his indictment?

A) To protect his wife

B) So his sons keep the farm

C) Because he could not read

D) To shame the judges

Answer · why

B) So his sons keep the farm

So his sons keep the farm: a man who never pleaded could not be condemned and his property auctioned, and Elizabeth reports his only words were 'More ...

Q 05/05

Which honour did The Crucible take in 1953, at the ceremony that also crowned the musical Wonderful Town?

A) Obie Award for Best Play

B) Drama Critics' Circle Award

C) Tony Award for Best Play

D) Theatre World Award

Answer · why

C) Tony Award for Best Play

Tony Award for Best Play went to The Crucible in March 1953, yet the New York Drama Critics' Circle passed it over that season, naming William Inge's ...